Share

Weekly Wrap-Up

June 1, 2012

Coming back from a warm and sunny holiday weekend, the NGAUS legislative team was ready for action.

On Tuesday, we came back fresh off a long and beautiful holiday weekend, celebrating all those service members who bravely served our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice. With the Senate in recess this week, we were watching the House floor.

On Wednesday, we got a preview of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s (SASC) version of the NDAA in a press release. Though the actual bill language has not yet been released to the public, NGAUS was happy to see several Guard-friendly provisions that mirror the House language and will be watching a few more closely as details are released.

On Thursday, we talked about a letter Senators Gillibrand and Blunt wrote to DoD inquiring after the status of implementation of USERRA reemployment rights for title 32 guardsmen and women, passed into law in last year’s NDAA. We also announced Senator Pryor introduced S.3236, a bill to further improve and expand USERRA rights.

Last night, the House passed H.R.5854, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. When the final bill language is put together by the hard working people in the House Clerks office, you will find our analysis here.

Today, we sent out a press release congratulating the 116thCombat Brigade in Idaho as it becomes the first National Guard unit to receive the most advanced tank in the Army’s arsenal, the M1A2 SEP. In the release, NGAUS points out that while this is a good news story for Idaho, much more needs to be done to upgrade the rest of the Abrams fleet. We’ll be working with the Senate appropriators to press that very issue.

That’s a wrap. It’s the first day of June, and there is talk of extreme storms in the D.C. area tonight, so we hope you stay dry!